College Heights hosted Thomas Jefferson in an Ozark 7 Conference cross-town rivalry and came away with a 3-0 sweep of the Cavaliers on Monday.
“In the third set, we missed six serves,” CHC coach Mary Colin said. “Other than that, we did a lot of great things tonight. I was proud of them bouncing back in the third set, and that is hard to do with missed serves. We had a lot of fun tonight. I felt like they played real consistently. Our middles also had a great night. … It was a fun night to play in three sets, enjoy themselves and do some things we’ve been practicing. I was happy to see some smiles.”
The Cougars (11-5, 2-1 Ozark 7) opened the night with a 25-8 win before going up 2-0 after defeating the Cavaliers (8-9, 2-2 Ozark 7) 25-6 in the second set. A back-and-forth third set went the way of College Heights, 25-20.
“We are still learning,” Thomas Jefferson coach Dave Soetaert said with a smile. “I only have three kids who can drive. We play a lot of freshmen, so there are some learning curves but the potential is there.”
College Heights opened the first game with a 4-0 before ultimately building a 14-6 advantage after an ace from Lindsay Griesemer and a kill by Lauren Ukena.
After a pair of sideouts on kills from Thomas Jefferson’s Lannah Grigg and Ukena, Ava Masena put the game out reach for the Cougars after rattling off nine straight points in service, including three aces, to build a 24-7 lead.
“Ava serves really aggressively, and for her to put that ball in play and start us off with an aggressive move was really huge,” Coach Colin said. “I was really proud of her consistency tonight.”
CHC ended the game shortly after on a kill by Ukena, who finished the first set with seven kills.
Masena picked up right where she left off in the second game, starting in service and scoring 12 straight points to give College Heights a commanding 12-0 advantage. She finished with three aces, while Ukena had four kills in the run. Marley Woodford had two kills, with Maddy Colin registering a block.
“Behind the scenes, Ava was putting the ball where I asked her to put it,” Coach Colin said. “It wasn’t just aggressive and her being consistent. It was her being aggressive, consistent and accurate, which was awesome.”
College Heights closed the second set with the last four points, including a kill from Ukena and Colin, to move up two games to none.
“It kept us in play,” Coach Colin said of Ukena’s night. “Our goal this whole season is consistency. Not only was she keeping the ball in play, but she was being aggressive and moved around to score in lots of different locations. I was really proud of her.”
Despite trailing 2-0, the Cavaliers didn’t go away without a fight, battling the Cougars the entire third set.
Thomas Jefferson took a 9-8 lead off an ace by Mary Nguyen before CHC’s Addie Lawrence registered back to back kills later in the set to give her team a 13-12 advantage.
The Cavaliers retook the 16-15 lead on a kill from Nguyen before Lawrence forced a sideout with a kill and swung the momentum permanently in favor of College Heights with a four-point service run that included a pair of aces to give the Cougars a 20-16 lead. College Heights went on to finish the sweep on a kill from Ukena.
“The confidence factor is it,” Soetaert said about his team’s better play in the third set. “I think we were a little hesitant in a bigger gym with a bigger atmosphere playing an archrival who is very good. We are still trying to find our identity, but we are getting there. That switch flipped in the third set and we fed off of that. We played within the lines and didn’t play extra. … I am very proud of the way they came back in the third set. A lot of teams lay down in that position, but we didn’t. That third set showed our potential. We are not far away, I don’t think.”
STATS
Ukena finished with 19 kills to lead the Cougars, while Lawrence added 12 kills and four aces. Maddy Colin had 36 assists, while Masena had six aces and 30 service points. Griesemer had 18 digs.
UP NEXT
College Heights is at Verona on Tuesday, while Thomas Jefferson takes part in the Southwest Volleywest over the weekend.
